Prendergast School and Ladywell Prendergast School, SE London Brockley/Ladywell/Lewisham

[OliveBee22]

Hi,

We have to send school preferences soon and are deliberating between which of these two schools to put first. We are confident we’d get either given the street we are on. Both feel like our local school as we spend a lot of time in both of the parks they are on. Does anyone have experience of either? Or which might suit a fairly quiet, creative kid? She is undecided herself, or we’d just go with her favourite. Our other two are girls so luckily we only need to make this decision once as suddenly feels like an enormous decision…
Would really appreciate any thoughts from people with recent experience of these schools.

Sorry, I should have made it clear that I’m particularly interested in extra curricular offers and how vibrant, creative and kind the schools feel once you are there.

I know you didn’t mention exam results, but the extra curricular would need to be pretty spectacular at Ladywell, to get past the differences in exam results!

If you're genuinely happy with either, I'd put Prendergast as your 1st choice and Ladywell as your second. It tends to be easier to transfer from Prendergast to Ladywell/Vale than the other way round so if things don't work out, that may be handy. Ladywell has an extra 60 students per year group over Prendergast's 120 (although Y10 is a bulge year and has 150).

I don't have a child at Ladywell but have had two DDs go through Prendergast (youngest is Y11) and have been happy with it on the whole. I'd say the school is a mostly kind place to be with teachers and support staff being willing to go the extra mile to support students with all sorts of things, both academic and otherwise. Most of the teachers at Prendergast are subject specialists which is increasingly unusual but I don't know how it compares to Ladywell (which doesn't have its own sixth form and so may be less appealing to someone wanting to teach their subject at a higher level).

Look on the school websites and in the newsletters to get an idea of how creative each of the schools is. You may be able to find details of extracurricular activities on there too - we've not been received anything yet this term so have no idea what's on offer! The school claims there is collaboration between the three schools but neither of my DDs has had the opportunity to be involved in anything collaborative. My Y11 has had fewer opportunities than her big sister. Some of that is undoubtedly because covid completely disrupted her Y7 experience but there's been no effort made to replace their missed opportunities whereas the Y10s have had almost all the trips reinstated and are able to do Duke of Edinburgh (something not offered to Y11).

In general, I'd say communication is something Prendergast could definitely do with improving. We seem to receive a flurry of letters about all sorts of things but often don't receive information about some of what feels more important e.g. the date of the last day Y11 has to be in school may not be shared until that week.

@PrendergastParent Thank you. Very useful info about changing schools. And I hadn’t thought about checking out the newsletters, have now found on the websites so will make a cuppa and get reading!

@newmum1976 I know, they are very different. However, I think PLS is on the up results-wise and has a good reputation locally (although I don’t know specifics).

I have a daughter at Prendergast school, we’re really happy with it, daughter is relatively academic and has a lovely friendship group. She doesn’t really get involved in many clubs at school but she has external clubs so doesn’t have time for much more. Creative friends have gone for Art and Textile GCSEs, you can see in the website subjects offered. No experience of PLS but the catchment has really shrunk in the past 3/4 years. Hoping its GCSE results start to improve. Prendergast has an orchestra whereas PLS didn’t when I went round.

@churrios Thanks so much. It’s good to hear positive experiences as Prendergast is the one we are now leaning towards. Re academics, I would also say my daughter is also relatively academic (at least at primary and with good teachers), but she goes to a lovely primary where they don’t really give the children a sense of how they are doing in comparison to their peers etc. I’m sure all secondaries are more pressurised, but you don’t think Prendergast is particularly so? They get such impressive results from such a range of kids which is brilliant but I suppose my remaining lingering concern is that they could be an exam factory or put unnecessary pressure on the children? I guess as your daughter is happy there you would say they don’t? Sorry for this essay; just trying to cover all bases!

My daughter wasn’t tested much in primary so yes I see a big increase in testing at prendergast compared to primary. I can’t compare to other secondary schools but when I’ve commented to parents at other schools they’ve agreed more testing at secondary is the norm. I do remember a letter about what’s app group usage in younger years as there was a bit of bad behaviour but I wasn’t directly involved and there is the odd fight. I think my daughter has got a chance of reaching her potential there ( some schools might focus on getting the majority to a 5) so I’m happy as she doesn’t seem stressed.. yet anyway.

@churrios Thanks, this is all v reassuring. Think the odd fight and WhatsApp nonsense is probably to be expected!

In a similar predicament and think most people tend to opt for Prendergast due to its reputation, but have to say, was really impressed by Ladywell at the open day and evening. Thought the teachers were excellent, and in particular the History and English departments. The art teacher said that it was the most pupil focused school she'd ever taught in. My friend speaks highly of it and my daughter had a really good feel for it.